16-month-old Support Group Helps Smokers Kick The Habit

December 14, 2000|By BRENDA SULLIVAN ;Courant Staff Writer

MANCHESTER — It was 20 years ago, but the memory is still vivid. She was reeling from a case of the flu -- fever, chills, aches and barely able to breathe -- but she still had to have that cigarette. Each drag, though, made her violently ill.

"I got so sick. And finally a little voice popped into my brain and said, `Maybe this is a good time to quit!' I knew it was time to let go of something I'd wanted to let go of long before this," said Roberta George, who is now in the business of helping others kick the smoking habit.

About 16 months ago, George started a support group as part of her outreach work for the 10-year-old Community Prevention and Addiction Services (CPAS) program, housed at 87B Oak St. The support group is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Lung Association and the national Nicotine Anonymous organization.

The smoking cessation project seemed like a natural outgrowth of other services provided by CPAS, which provides free assessment, referral and advocacy primarily for low-income and indigent residents, George said.

The support group, which is open to anyone over the age of 18 regardless of income, meets from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays at the CPAS offices. On average, six to 10 people are at a meeting. These include those who quit smoking and are looking for a safe place and an understanding audience to talk about their struggles and their successes, and those who are in search of an arsenal of weapons to arm themselves with before they undertake the battle.

One of the biggest hurdles that smokers trying to quit have to clear is facing up to the fact that they are struggling with a powerful chemical addiction, George said.

"Smokers just don't consider what they're doing as drug use," she said.

But, in fact, tobacco is viewed by experts in the substance-abuse prevention field, "as the gateway drug to other substance abuse," she said.

"The cigarette is just a delivery system, like a syringe."

Beyond the chemical dependency, smokers also have to cope with breaking the bonds of emotional and psychological dependence.

"What almost everybody says when they first come to these meetings is that they've built a relationship with smoking that makes it hard to let go. The cigarette has been there, for many, throughout their youth. It has been there for them in good times and bad," George said.

The connection is so strong that people will often dream about smoking as they are trying to quit, George added.

So, the group talks about alternatives to old habits and dealing with the consequences of change. "Commonly, people say that going out for a cigarette is the only time they get a break. They also worry about their friends and co-workers feeling snubbed when they no longer join them for those cigarette breaks," George said.

One of the most important functions of the support group is to keep the person who stumbles back into smoking from giving up, said Dan Lonergan, who broke his relationship with cigarettes 14 months ago.

``When people first stop smoking, they can hardly wait to get to the next meeting to tell everybody that they haven't smoked -- maybe for a week,'' he said.

``But after a while, they go through what we call the `pink cloud' period, when they feel really high esteem about having stopped. Sometimes, they make the mistake of thinking, `This wasn't so hard. I can always quit again some other time.' But quitting really is a daily thing that you have to live with,'' he said.

So, it's important to encourage people who have fallen off the wagon to come back, he said. ``Don't feel ashamed of starting up again, because we can buoy your spirits and help you quit again,'' Lonergan said.

And it's never too soon to quit, he added. One of the group's members is 24 years old and has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. ``So, it's foolish to think you can just put this off until you're 40,'' he said.

To help break the bond with nicotine and deal with new situations, the group's participants are armed with a variety of strategies, including information that appeals to those who want to live a long and healthy life.

"We are all going to die someday but what I say is, why not live now with quality?" George said.

For those who have put off breaking the smoking habit because it has helped them suppress their appetite -- and therefore manage their weight -- George offers information about health risks, provided by the American Cancer Society, including:

Men who have smoked for several years are more likely to have abnormally low penile blood pressure, which contributes to impotence;

Women who smoke tend to experience menopause earlier, face a greater risk of osteoporosis after menopause and are at greater risk for cervical and uterine cancer;

In all, more than 4,000 chemical substances with associated serious health effects have been identified in cigarette smoke including carbon monoxide, benzene, cyanide and ammonia;